Pizarro: San Jose artist Bill Gould working on community art project in Poland

San Jose artist Bill Gould's public art pieces throughout the Bay Area are dazzling gates and sculptures of metal and glass that often incorporate the history and flavor of the community they're part of. Now, Gould has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a project that's close to his heart but much farther from Silicon Valley.

For six years, he's been working on installing a piece of community-based public art in the Czubin district of Lublin, Poland, close to where Gould and his wife, Jill, lived for two years in the 1980s. The piece, "Maki," is a 24-foot-tall representation of five red poppies, made of steel, blown-glass and more than 700 ceramic tiles made by people who live there.

To raise the final $30,000 for fabrication and installation, he's turned to Kickstarter (see the project's page at http://kck.st/1a81EYA).

"This is a great cause -- a great project -- and incredible people," Gould said. "We believe once people know the story of this project and see the impact we're having on this community, they will want to be part of it, too."

MEET THE BREWERS: Tied House Brewing and Hermitage Brewing are helping to wrap up SF Beer Week with the fifth annual "Meet the Brewers" event Saturday at 1 p.m. at Hermitage Brewery at 1627 S. Seventh St. It'll feature more than 15 makers of craft beer from around Northern California, including Santa Cruz's Seabright, El Toro of Morgan Hill, Santa Clara Valley Brewing and Campbell Brewing Co.

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Of course, man cannot live on beer alone, so Moveable Feast is bringing out a contingent of food trucks, including Eat on Monday, Baba Kabob and Mi Ninja. Unlimited beer-tasting tickets are available for $35 online -- designated drivers pay only $5 -- at www.hermitagebrewing.com.

ART FOR THE HEART: Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone is a well-known lover of the arts in Silicon Valley, and he's planned what he calls the "Stone Family Arts Triathlon" with his wife, Carmen, for Valentine's Day weekend: First is Ballet San Jose's "Neoclassical to Now" on Friday night at the Center for the Performing Arts; Saturday is reserved for San Jose Rep's "R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe"; and Sunday wraps up with Opera San Jose's "Madama Butterfly" at the California Theater.

Not bad and, amazingly, it only covers about half the shows going on downtown this weekend.

SURVIVING AT WESTGATE: Westgate Center in San Jose is celebrating its $15 million renovation project this week, and that'll include a casting call for the long-running CBS reality show "Survivor" on Saturday at 11 a.m. Making it onto the show might be a long shot, but remember that ex-49ers cheerleader Morgan McLeod from San Jose will be on the latest edition, which premieres Feb. 26.

Registration for the casting call will take place next to kids clothing store Crazy 8. Hopefully, that's not a hint for what kind of mindset they're looking to cast.